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Virginia Downs Pitt in Final Dual Meet
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia swimming and diving teams each recorded victories over Pitt in the final dual meet of the season at the Aquatic and Fitness Center. The Cavalier women’s team earned a 176-121 win while the men’s squad downed the Panthers 164-124. Prior to the meet, Virginia honored its 15 seniors.
Fourth years Mei Christensen (100 back), Colleen Law (200 free), Jen Narum (500 free), Graham Greytak (1000 free), John Azar (100 free), Daniel Johnson (200 back) Dan McMahon (100 fly) and Alex D’Ambrosio (1-meter, 3-meter diving) each claimed wins in their final meet at the AFC.
“It was a nice way to end our dual meet season and it was an exciting day for our seniors,” Virginia head coach Mark Bernardino said. “The team had good emotion and had a true sense of who they were. Now we begin the real preparation for championship season.”
Freshman Lauren Perdue set an AFC pool record in the 200 free, clocking an NCAA ‘B’ time of 1:45.32, though her race was exhibitioned. The previous mark was set in 2009 by Rebecca Jones, competing for the Tidewater club team. Law was second in the 200 free with a time of 1:50.32.
Both the men’s and women’s 200 medley relay teams started the meet off on a strong note with a win. Christensen, Katherine McDonnell, Lauren Smart and Perdue teamed up to claim the event in 1:42.71. The men’s squad of Eric Olesen, Tom Casey, Scot Robison and Peter Geissinger finished in 1:30.70.
Christensen won the 100 back for the Cavaliers, clocking an NCAA ‘B’ time of 54.97. Pitt’s Adam Maczewski took the men’s race in 49.43; Olesen placed second for UVa in 49.87.
The Virginia women went 1-2-3 in the 100 breast. Ellie Freeman won the race in 1:04.01 in front of teammates Christine Olson (1:04.54) and Amanda Faulkner (1:04.58).
Casey led a trio of Cavalier men in the 100 breast, recording a winning mark of 57.29. Simon Norstedt laced second (57.70) and Tim Hayes was third (58.48).
Liz Shaw (1:59.92, B) and Matt Houser (1:49.36) also picked up victories in the 200 fly.
Virginia’s Kelly Flynn claimed a victory in the 50 free, finishing with a mark of 23.85. Teammates Anna Dobben (23.89) and Kristen Moores (23.91) placed second and third, respectively. Robison won the men’s 50 free in 20.53.
Pitt’s Kelsey Herbst took first-place honors in the women’s 1000 free (10:04.60), just ahead of UVa’s Claire Crippen, who placed second in 10:04.67.
The Cavalier men went 1-2-3 in the 1000 free, led by Greytak’s winning time of 9:21.94. Nathan Vredeveld was second (9:22.95) and Thibaud Pierre was third (9:30.48). Virginia followed that up with a 1-2-3 finish in the 200 free; junior Matt McLean won the race in 1:38.78. Geissinger (1:40.09) and Darren Ankosko (1:41.49) placed second and third, respectively.
On the 3-meter boards, senior Alex D’Ambrosio earned a victory for the Cavalier men, earning a score of 337.28. Teammate Briggy Imbriglia placed third with a mark of 324.07. For the women, Pitt’s Margo Elkstrom won the event (301.50) and UVa’s Sarah Andrekovich was second with a score of 246.53.
“It will be important for us to stay healthy,” Bernardino concluded. “We have to have consistent rhythm to train and each day will now become the most important day of the year, for the next 3-6 weeks. Everything is short term in context. We have errors and techniques we will focus on cleaning up. The coaches have to select the right 18 scoring athletes and we have so much depth, that will happen at the last possible minute.”